American Flag Badges

When I see George Bush et al wearing a little American flag enamel badge, I can't help but think of the little hammer and sickle badges that Soviet officials used to wear, or the little Swastika pins that Nazi officials that you can set in photographs on Goebbels suit.

Obviously the stars and stripes doesn't stand for the same values as Commies or Nazis, so I'm not making that comparison.

But there is a slight parallel, namely the need for the rulers to visibly wear their patriotism on their lapel (as if we don't know the President, any President, is patriotic), and perhaps a more subtle message, emphasizing the state's synonymousness with the badge wearers.

March 11th, 2007 8:03pm

Relentless unquestioning and unquestionable patriotism is a sign of facism. What did Howard Zinn say about dissent?

bogart
March 11th, 2007 8:09pm

Well you don't even need to go quite as far as that, to see a problem with the current situation.

It's like American patriotism has been coopted by Bush and his cronies, and the language has been completed subverted.

Example: They called their law the PATRIOT Act - so that means if you are in favor of civil liberties - in the redefined language, you are unpatriotic.

Given the acronym is so bad, it's a safe bet, that they thought of the name first, and then reversed looked for an acronym to match.

And why did they choose the name?

Because they want people to think that people who oppose the act are unpatriotic, and that people who favor it are patriotic.

March 11th, 2007 8:51pm

>Given the acronym is so bad, it's a safe bet, that they thought of the name first, and then reversed looked for an acronym to match.
The word is "backronym." And it is pretty common with legislative initiatives.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backronym